Everyday Control Feedback

First, identify the sensing and actuation mechanism for each of your examples. The control computation calculates a change of the actuator depending on what is sensed. This may be a simple mechanical relation in case of the toilet water tank and a complex relation in case of the car cruise control.

I have no idea what they mean by "uncertainty". But if you have written down the control computation it should be possible to say something about dynamics and robustness.

My favorite one is carrying a full coffee mug from the coffee machine to the office desk.

Best regards,

pt

An obvious one is the body sweating when it is hot to cool it down. Here is a reference

"control computation": may be means comparing the output with the desired goal, and then generating a new input to the the actuator in order to bring the output closed to the desired goal?

"robustness/dynamics/uncertainty": may be this is noise part, from outside, which interfere with the actual device being controller, which the controller has no control over. Or noise affecting the sensor itself. I think Robust control is supposed to handle this sort of thing.

--Nasser

Examples abound if the prof purposely left off "automatic". If not, then after the ones you mentioned there's a host of feedback loops in your own body, regulating blood sugar, CO2 concentrations, temperature, etc. If you can think of it, your body probably has at least one control loop to make it happen.

I _hope_ that he meant 'computation' in the larger sense -- i.e., that an analog circuit with resistors and caps, or some squishy biological system with glands and fluids and other messy stuff counts. If so, then just describe the behavior and mechanism as best as you can (and I very much doubt he's looking for a PhD-level dissertation on each).

As far as the robustness, for example, the body's CO2 system regulates the amount of CO2 by sensing its increase somewhere dark and squishy (the pituitary, I think), and sending hormonal signals to your hindbrain (it's a short trip) that make you want to breath faster. This system also indirectly regulates your oxygen metabolism: more CO2 indirectly indicates less oxygen, so breathing faster oxygenates your blood. This is why medical oxygen has CO2 in it: without CO2 in the oxygen your body's concentration of CO2 gets so low that you stop breathing, your anesthesiologist says "oopsi-daisy", and your undertaker gets some business.

Thank you everyone for all the tips. Any more examples from anyone would be great.